A Rustic, Thickly Woven Hemp Bag: Lots of Mending and Patching

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
33" x 12 1/4", 84 cm x 31 cm

What a wonderful, old, object: this is a rustic, thickly woven hemp bag with a distinctive "teardrop" shape--bulbous at the bottom and narrowing into a stovepipe-type opening.

It has been used hard which holds a great deal of its charm and beauty.

There are ample repairs which can be seen as stitching, the patches that correlate to the patches are on the inside of the bag.

Because the bag seems to be starched and because of its unique shape it it is not easy to turn inside-out to see the patches inside. Luckily the traces of stitching on the outside surface are visually engaging and provide us information on the overall condition and quality of the bag.

The good size of this bag exerts a strong presence, even more than that this object emanates a sense of its history as its surface reflects the work and people that it engaged with during its lifetime. 

A beautiful yet humble thing.

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